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Displaying items by tag: Vandalism

#Benone - The RNLI beach lifeguard unit on Benone Strand on the North coast has been vandalised for a second time in a week.

During what is traditionally one of the RNLI lifeguard’s busiest weeks of the year, the charity’s lifeguards discovered on Wednesday morning (1 July) that vandals had damaged the exterior of the beach lifeguard unit for a second time within a week.



The railings around the exterior of the hut had been badly bent, a ventilation fan on the roof of the unit had been broken off, and fencing leading up to the unit that protects the surrounding dune system had also been broken.



The RNLI are working closely with the PSNI in an attempt to prevent further damage being done to the beach unit throughout the summer.



"It is estimated that repairs to the beach lifeguard unit will run into hundreds of pounds for the charity, as the railings, fencing and ventilation fan will have to replaced and fitted," said RNLI lifeguard supervisor Tim Doran.



"While our lifeguards are on duty many people come up to the units for assistance and advice and they are easily identifiable. We hope that these acts of vandalism will cease and that our lifeguards can continue to operate from them safely when carrying out their lifesaving work."

Published in Coastal Notes

#BronzeAgeBoat - Dover's replica Bronze Age boat has been moved to a secure location after being vandalised, according to Kent Online.

It's reported that a tent covering the vessel on the port town's Roman Lawn was damaged, and saw marks were made on one side.

The incident comes just days ahead of the launch of a campaign to fund works on the historic boat - a half-size replica of one built some 3,500 years ago - to make it seaworthy after it sank in the Dover docks last year.

A similar project in Cornwall saw the fruit of its own restoration work this past March, when their 50ft Bronze Age boat was set afloat in Falmouth.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Cornish boat is crafted from two giant oak logs and using tools similar to what boat builders of the time world have used in the post-Neolithic era.

Published in Historic Boats

The Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) Information

The creation of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) began in a very low key way in the autumn of 2002 with an exploratory meeting between Denis Kiely, Jim Donegan and Fintan Cairns in the Granville Hotel in Waterford, and the first conference was held in February 2003 in Kilkenny.

While numbers of cruiser-racers were large, their specific locations were widespread, but there was simply no denying the numerical strength and majority power of the Cork-Dublin axis. To get what was then a very novel concept up and running, this strength of numbers had to be acknowledged, and the first National Championship in 2003 reflected this, as it was staged in Howth.

ICRA was run by a dedicated group of volunteers each of whom brought their special talents to the organisation. Jim Donegan, the elder statesman, was so much more interested in the wellbeing of the new organisation than in personal advancement that he insisted on Fintan Cairns being the first Commodore, while the distinguished Cork sailor was more than content to be Vice Commodore.

ICRA National Championships

Initially, the highlight of the ICRA season was the National Championship, which is essentially self-limiting, as it is restricted to boats which have or would be eligible for an IRC Rating. Boats not actually rated but eligible were catered for by ICRA’s ace number-cruncher Denis Kiely, who took Ireland’s long-established native rating system ECHO to new heights, thereby providing for extra entries which brought fleet numbers at most annual national championships to comfortably above the hundred mark, particularly at the height of the boom years. 

ICRA Boat of the Year (Winners 2004-2019)